Texas Electric Broker Asks PUC To Work With State Agencies To Cap Sales, Other Taxes Levied On Massive Power Bills Reflecting Wholesale Pricing From Winter Weather Event

March 8, 2021

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Reporting by Paul Ring • ring@energychoicematters.com

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Energy Edge Consulting, LLC filed a request at the Texas PUC asking that the PUC work with the appropriate state entities and implement a cap on the amount of state sales tax, gross receipts tax ("GRT"), and the Public Utility Commission Assessment fee ("PUCA") that can be assessed to customers who were exposed to market-based electric prices for the month of February 2021.

Energy Edge Consulting said that, "it has come to our attention that the method in which state sales tax, gross receipts tax ('GRT') and the Public Utility Commission Assessment fee ('PUCA') are applied to a consumer's electricity invoice will meaningfully increase the amount of money owed by the consumer for the month February."

"Each of the above taxes are applied as a percent against the total cost of the electricity and most of the cost of transmission and distribution charges ('T&D') invoiced to the customer by their REP. Thus, the larger the invoice for electricity, the more taxes incurred by the consumer," Energy Edge Consulting said

Energy Edge Consulting listed the state sales tax as 6.25%, the GRT as 1.997% (for customers inside the city limits of a city with a population over 10,000), and the PUCA as 0.1667%.

"Customers with exposure to the HCAP [the High System-Wide Offer Cap] and Day-Ahead A/S [ancillary service] prices during the week of February 15 - February 19 will see a meaningful increase in the cost of taxes on their February invoices, in some cases exceeding the amount of their total invoice for energy in January 2021," Energy Edge Consulting said

"Our recommendation is the cap be set to reflect the amount of taxes a customer would have paid based on the average cost of the real-time market and Day-Ahead A/S [ancillary service] for the month of January 2021 or implement another solution that yields a similar result," Energy Edge Consulting said

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